The Door Yom Kippur Cannot Open

 We spent RoshHashanah in Givot Eden, and what was supposed to be a short two-day tripthrough northern Israel somehow became a journey filled with enough stories forweeks. Most of that was because of my wife Chantelle, who has a wonderful habitof making me stop when I am ready to keep driving. One of those stops broughtus to the extraordinary Tunisian synagogue in Akko, a building covered fromfloor to ceiling with millions of tiny mosaic stones. And because Chantelleinsisted that we stay, we found ourselves listening to an Israeli Air Forceofficer speaking to a group of young men and women about Yom Kippur—andteaching a lesson I needed to hear myself.  Wecan fast for twenty-five hours. We can beat our chests, cry through Kol Nidrei,confess every sin and remain in synagogue until the final HaShem Hu HaElokim.But the Mishnah teaches that there is one door Yom Kippur cannot open for us: עֲבֵירוֹת שֶׁבֵּין אָדָם לַחֲבֵירוֹ—thehurts that remain between one person and another. Before we ask HaShem toforgive us, there may be a phone call we need to make, an apology we need tooffer—or perhaps an old resentment we finally need to put down. In thismorning’s Breakfast & a Class,TheDoor Yom Kippur Cannot Open, we discussforgiveness, reconciliation, and what those millions of stones in an Akkosynagogue can teach us about repairing the mosaic before Yom Kippur.